In a civil case caption, which is the correct standard format for the parties?

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In civil case captions, you put the plaintiff’s full name first, then the symbol v. (for versus), and then the defendant’s full name exactly as it appears in the case, including any corporate designators. When the defendant is a corporation, that name includes the suffix and its punctuation, typically with a comma before Inc. For example, if the defendant’s official name is “Defendant, Inc.,” the caption should read Plaintiff v. Defendant, Inc. This preserves the precise legal identity of the parties and follows standard Bluebook practice for case captions.

That’s why the format with “Plaintiff v. Defendant, Inc.” is the best choice: it uses v. (not vs.) and correctly includes the defendant’s corporate designation as part of the name. The other options either invert the parties, use the nonstandard vs., or omit the corporate suffix as appropriate, which makes them inconsistent with the proper caption format.